Latest news with #Behan
Irish Examiner
04-07-2025
- Irish Examiner
Cork man jailed for threatening to stab woman and children before stealing car from their driveway
A man fixated on stealing a car broke into a house armed with a knife and threatened to stab a woman and her young children putting them through a terrifying ordeal. 38-year-old Patrick Heaphy, who was living at an address at Riverside Wharf at the time of the crime, was sentenced on Friday to three-and-a-half years in prison with the last year suspended at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The accused man expressed shame at his own actions and could not believe he had made such violent threats in the woman's house in the Cobh area on the night of November 11, 2024. Patrick Heaphy got a taxi to the house and entered it while carrying a knife, announcing on his arrival: 'I will stab ye all.' He insisted on knowing who owned the cars in the driveway and demanded the car keys. Ultimately, he was given a set of keys, drove away in the particular Skoda Octavia and crashed it into a pole. He was arrested following the arrival of emergency services. He was highly intoxicated on the night. While he had serious previous convictions he had been working and staying out of trouble but his life spiraled out of control with his reaction to the death of his partner. As a result, he lost his job and lost his home. When informed by gardaí about exactly what he said and did in the house during the aggravated burglary he was shaking his head in disbelief. He apologised for his behaviour. He said he wanted to acknowledge his wrongdoing to the woman and her children and did not ask for forgiveness. On the night, the woman shouted upstairs to her children to lock themselves in their rooms. There was no physical altercation, apart from the threat he made to stab everyone. Judge Behan said the incident happened in a family home where the woman and her children had a right to feel safe and secure.
RTÉ News
16-06-2025
- Health
- RTÉ News
St James's Hospital apologises to trans woman
St James's Hospital has made a public apology to a trans woman over her experience at its emergency department last year after she fell ill following gender reassignment surgery overseas. In a public statement made before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) this afternoon, the hospital acknowledged there is a "lacuna in the care pathways" for people in her position. Its management has apologised for the "unsatisfactory and upsetting" experience she faced and undertook to meet with a trans advocacy group to discuss its concerns. The patient, Paige Behan, brought a statutory complaint against the hospital's board alleging that she was discriminated against in breach of the Equal Status Act 2000 when she came in seeking emergency treatment on 16 August last year. Her complaint has now been resolved by agreement. The case opened before adjudication officer David James Murphy this afternoon, following a short adjournment for talks between the parties. Ms Behan's barrister, Michael Kinsley BL, appearing instructed by solicitor Seamus Hempenstall of Daly Hempenstall LLP said: "The matter has been resolved and the only action required is that a public statement be read out by the hospital." The statement was then read out by counsel for the board of St James's Hospital, Mairead McKenna SC, who was instructed by Arthur Cox in the matter. "St James's Hospital acknowledges there is a lacuna in the care pathways available for patients who have received gender-affirming surgery abroad," Ms McKenna said. "[The hospital] apologises to Paige Behan for the unsatisfactory and upsetting experience she had during her attendance at the emergency department on 16 August 2024. The hospital deeply regrets the upset caused to Ms Behan," Ms McKenna continued. "St James's Hospital is committed to learning from Paige Behan's experience at the hospital and has agreed to meet with Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) at Paige Behan's request to discuss the concerns regarding the care available to patients who are returning from abroad following gender-affirming surgery," she concluded. The adjudicator, Mr Murphy noted the withdrawal of the equal status complaint pursuant to an agreement between the parties. He praised the "hard work" of the litigants in coming to the agreement, and commended their commitment to "improving the service to everyone's benefit" before closing the hearing.
Techday NZ
13-06-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Cloudera urges telcos to invest in AI or risk falling behind
Cloudera has issued a warning to telecommunications companies that those failing to adopt AI-driven networks risk being left behind, amid concerns that data fragmentation and scaling challenges are hampering progress in the sector. Use cases for artificial intelligence in telecommunications are broad, such as predictive maintenance, automated anomaly detection, real-time network optimisation, and proactive service delivery. However, Anthony Behan, Global Managing Director, Communications, Media & Entertainment at Cloudera, says a lack of modernised data infrastructure could see organisations struggle to keep pace in a market experiencing sluggish growth. Cloudera works with 80 of the world's top 100 telecom providers and reports that telcos are under increasing pressure to reduce costs, modernise infrastructure, and deliver better customer experiences, all while transforming their networks to meet new demands. The company stresses that scalable AI cannot happen without unified, reliable data; without AI, Behan warns, telcos could lose ground to competitors. "Telcos are drowning in vast volumes of operational and telemetry data – yet they can't act on it effectively," says Anthony Behan, Global Managing Director, Communications, Media & Entertainment at Cloudera. Behan further highlights, "Regulatory compliance, cyber threats, and the slow pace of network virtualisation show just how overstretched networks already are. AI can really help, and the problem isn't a lack of data – it's that it's siloed, unstructured, and untrusted. Without strong data foundations, telcos can't scale AI." Cloudera has recently joined the AI-RAN Alliance, a coalition including global companies such as Dell, NVIDIA, SoftBank, and T-Mobile, aiming to advance the integration of AI in developing telecommunications infrastructure. Behan notes the importance of scaling AI applications, stating, "The next phase of AI will be about scale and production. Private AI allows for that kind of automation in the network, at carrier scale." Barriers to adoption Data across telecommunications networks is often siloed and managed through disparate systems, creating significant hurdles for organisations wanting to deploy AI at scale. Cloudera's advice to telecom operators includes supporting hybrid workload mobility across both cloud and on-premises environments via Private AI; establishing unified data governance covering both data platform domains and BSS/OSS stacks; allowing AI workloads to be trained on-premises and deployed either in the cloud or directly in the network; and reducing vendor lock-in by running workloads where it makes the most business sense. Recent research from Cloudera shows that AI is already being utilised in some areas within telecommunications, including customer service (49%), experience management (44%), and security monitoring (49%). However, Cloudera points out that extending the benefits of AI to more advanced network functions such as predictive maintenance and real-time optimisation will depend on a scalable data and AI infrastructure. AI-native opportunities With improved data foundations, networks could unlock AI's greater potential, including automation of operations, performance gains for 5G and edge, and development of new revenue streams such as smart city solutions and support for autonomous technologies. Looking ahead, Behan outlines his vision for the future of telecom networks: "If I could wave a magic wand and build the ideal telecom network, it would have GPUs in every base station and use AI not just for communication, but for distributed, sovereign, local intelligence. That's where Private AI comes in - you can't run everything in the public cloud, especially with sensitive data. You need on-premises capabilities for control and security, but also the flexibility to use the cloud where it makes sense. The network would be highly secure, fast, and elastic – capable of spinning up virtual resources automatically to handle congestion or block fraud in real time. While this vision is still perhaps five to ten years away telcos must begin laying the groundwork now. More investment and experimentation are needed today to realise the network of tomorrow."
Dublin Live
09-06-2025
- Dublin Live
Irish woman ‘in fear' ahead of release of Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info An Irishwoman who alleged she was raped at knifepoint by the main suspect in the disappearance of toddler Madeleine McCann says she fears he will seek her out following his release from prison. Christian Brueckner, 48, is due to be freed from a German jail in September after completing his sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old US woman in Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2005. Hazel Behan, 41, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she fears the German man will "hunt her down". Brueckner was acquitted by a German court in relation to the charge of violent rape of Ms Behan at her apartment in Praia da Rocha in Portugal's Algarve. She told The Sun: "His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years. "Fear that I'll see him. Fear that he'll find out where I live and hunt me down. I also have fear that he'll do to someone else what he did to me. "I've called him out in a public forum and I have genuine concern he could confront me. "I wouldn't put anything past a person like him. "If he is released, I will worry for every woman and child who, like me, believes the justice system is protecting them. "A leopard doesn't change his spots." Later this year Ms Behan expects to discover the outcome of her High Court appeal in Germany against his acquittal for raping her, another woman and a girl in Portugal in 2004. (Image: Phil Harris) Ms Behan has accused the Portuguese authorities of alleged "inaction" in identifying and prosecuting Brueckner. In April, she lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the Portuguese authorities over their handling of her attack. Ms Behan also expressed her sympathy and support for the Leicestershire-based family of Madeleine who went missing in Praia da Luz while on holiday with her family in 2007 when she was three years old. (Image: PA) "As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine what they have gone through and continue to go through every day for the past 18 years," she said. German and Portuguese police and firefighters carried out a three-day search of an area near Praia da Luz last week in the latest efforts to find out what happened to the missing child. Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice . For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage .
Irish Daily Mirror
09-06-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Irish woman 'in fear' ahead of release of main suspect in Madeleine McCann probe
An Irishwoman who alleged she was raped at knifepoint by the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann fears he will seek her out after his release from prison. Christian Brueckner, 48, is due to be freed from a German jail in September after serving his sentence for the rape of a 72-year-old woman in Portugal in 2005. Hazel Behan, 41, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: 'His sentence may be ending but mine never did. I have lived with fear every day for 21 years. 'Fear I'll see him. Fear he'll find out where I live and hunt me down. I also have fear that he'll do to someone else what he did to me. 'I wouldn't put anything past a person like him. A leopard doesn't change his spots.' Brueckner was acquitted by a German court over the violent rape of Ms Behan at her apartment in Praia da Rocha in Portugal. Later this year she will discover the outcome of her German High Court appeal against his acquittal for raping her, another woman and a girl in Portugal in 2004. Ms Behan accused the Portuguese authorities of 'inaction' in identifying and prosecuting Bruckner. In April, she lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights against over their handling of her attack. Ms Behan also expressed her sympathy and support for Madeleine's family. Maddie was just three years old went missing in Praia da Luz while on holiday with her family in 2007. Ms Behan said: 'I cannot begin to imagine what they continue to go through every day.' German and Portuguese police and firefighters carried out a three-day search of an area near Praia da Luz last week in the latest fruitless efforts to find out what happened to the missing child. Ms Behan also spoke about Brueckner's impending release in an exclusive interview with this newspaper earlier this year. She said 'He knows who I am. Well, he always knew who I was, I just didn't know who he was. 'But I suppose now, at this stage, he knows me a lot better as this person that I am now. But I can't live in that fear, if you know what I mean? 'I have to remind myself all the time that, you know, I am not that kind of person. 'I don't live that kind of lifestyle at all like, in fact, quite the opposite, thankfully. 'But I can't allow for him to take any more from me than he already has and I'm not going to give him that. 'Like, is there a fear in the back of my mind? 100 per cent. But my fear isn't just, as I said, about me. It's bigger than that. I mean, if he wants to come at me again, he better put his boxing gloves on because I'm ready for him this time. I'm not 20 anymore. I'm not a baby and I will kick ten shades of sh*te out of him if he came near me again. But, on a real human level and not to be funny or anything, but yeah he terrifies me.' The court ultimately acquitted Brueckner in October of raping Ms Behan - ruling that there was insufficient evidence to find the convicted rapist and child abuser guilty. Ms Behan also spoke in detail about the trauma she suffered as a result of the horrific crime in 2004 - and how it continues to affect her to this day. 'You're very much stuck there. Not by choice. It's like something is just imprinted on you. The sad thing about it is I didn't choose that. This is something that, not to sound dramatic, but it murders the person that you were. You're gone,' she said. Speaking about living with that trauma, Ms Behan said she is still constantly battling with the horror she suffered 20 years on. 'Nothing is ever going to take away the fact that that happened. So for me, I think the hardest part of that was the control I felt he still had in my life, and still does have and I hate admitting that,' she told us. 'I have developed, you know, different quirks in my life, like I won't travel on holidays without, like, a portable door lock because of him. My family has suffered because of him. My friends have suffered. Like this is all because of him.'
